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Describe a novel that was interesting

IELTS Cue Card/ Candidate Task Card 248 with Model Answer:

Describe a novel that was particularly interesting to you.

You should say:
  • what it was about
  • when you read it
  • what was the main story
and explain why it was interesting to you.


Model Answer 1:
I am not a big fan of reading and love to spend my leisure hours by chatting with my friends or by playing video games. But suddenly one day I found a novel and started reading the book for the illustrations and then found it interesting than the most other books. The novel is named – Treasure Island.

The novel has been composed in the 18th century by a Scottish novelist - Robert Louis Stevenson. The novel is about the adventures of a young boy in search of treasures hidden by an evil pirate in a specific island. Initially, before being published as a book, the novel was published in a magazine for kids named Young Folks and the publication continued for two continuous years (1881 and 1882). But the title of the series was different. It was known as The Mutiny of the Hispaniola. The series was first published as a book in 1883. The book contains all the adventures of Jim Hawkins and his search for the treasures of Captain Flint. The story of the novel begins at an inn which is owned by the parents of Jim Hawkins. The novel is famous around the world for its perception of pirates, sailing ships, treasures and adventures which are not available in the current days.

Now I am in my university second year and studying in sociology at the National University of Singapore. I had to take a sick leave for my physical illness as I underwent much stress in the last field trip in some remote parts of the country. The doctor advised me to take a complete bed rest. So, during the bed rest, I had nothing else to do except reading. Though I am not a reader at all my dad had brought some books for me from his personal library. The books were of different categories and most of them dealt with the issues I am uninterested most. In fact, I have nothing to do with the Principle of Economics or Chinese Literature Basics. So, I tried to find a suitable one and the well-illustrated book attracted me. I picked the Treasure Island and started reading it.

The main story of the book was about discovering a hidden treasure from an island by following a treasure map. A small boy named Jim Hawkins lives with his mother and helps her running the inn - Admiral Benbow. An old sailor came into the inn and suddenly died leaving some of his belongings. Hawkins and his mother open the belongings and had found a map which leads towards an island where an evil pirate, Captain Flint had hidden his treasures. So, decisions were made to make the move to rescue the treasures. Some other characters like Captain Smollett, Long John Silver also take part in the voyage and play different roles in the ship. But everyone seems to be aware of the aim of the voyage. Gradually, Jim Hawkins discovers that the people they had taken as crews are not crews. In reality, they were pirates and are waiting for a suitable chance to snatch the treasure once that is discovered by Jim and his companions. A mutiny takes place on the ship and there were two groups. Battles took place and some of the pirates are killed. On the island, some of the pirates managed to hide and waited for the chance. When the treasures were discovered, they charged Jim and his companions but were ambushed and killed by the other mates of Jim. Then collected the treasures and shared among them after returning to Bristol.

The novel was interesting to me for some particular reasons. Firstly, the novel took me in the days when there were sailing ships. The age was of pirates who killed innocent sailors and looted their belongings. The age was also about hidden treasures like gold coins, precious stones, valuable clothing, chests filled with riches and much more. In fact, the days were filled with adventures. Besides, the writing capacity of the author is so lively that it appeared to me that everything is happening right before my eyes. I started believing that I am one of the participants in the voyage. Finally, the book made me amazed and I was glad at the success of the little boy, Jim Hawkins.

Sample Answer 2:
Recently I read a novel named 'Go Ask Alice'. This was an interesting literary piece to me for some reasons. The novel was about a teenage girl. She developed a habit of abusing drugs at a younger age. She also did some other interesting acts like running away from her home. Her death was very tragic. Thanks for this great cue card topic.

The novel was based on a fictional event and it was written in 1971 – a long ago of my birth. The book is written by Beatrice Sparks. Though this is a completely fictional work, there are controversies that the book is based on any real character who might have been familiar to the writer, a therapist by profession.    

I read the book last week. Actually, I regretted that I did not pick the book by this time. My dad has a moderate private library where he keeps all types of books. His collection is really adorable. Often I pass my leisure hours in his library and read different types of books. I mostly prefer to read thrillers and other sorts of novels. But this time I decided to get something different. I preferred psychological thrillers and got this one. I read the book in a single sitting and it was a great experience to know about everything of the protagonist of this novel. It took around three hours for me to complete reading the book.

The main plot of the book is centring around a little girl of 14 years old. She maintains a diary and the book is like the diary pages. In that diary, she describes her intentions, her very personal feelings, her relations with her parents and many more issues. Consequently, she gets addicted to drugs and starts taking more drugs continuously. She also starts selling drugs at a stage. After some events, the girl becomes abused and continues using drugs. She had to leave her family and reunited again after being abused with drugs. But she cannot give up the drug habit for her surrounding pressure from friends and frustrations. Unluckily, the girl dies of a drug overdose.     

The novel was interesting to me for many reasons. It showed the psychological changes of the teenage girl. She wanted to have a healthy family and relationship but she did not get them. Her death is really a mystery. It is not clear that if she had died by mistakenly taking drugs or committed suicide. In fact, she was a troubled teenager and needed the right counselling. But she did not get that. The book also provides a strong message to the teenage people to keep themselves away from drug abuse. For all the reasons, it was an interesting novel to me.

If you can talk about the cue card topic "Describe a novel that was particularly interesting to you." you should be able to talk about the following IELTS cue cards topics as well:
  • Describe a book you have recently read. 
  • Describe your favourite book.
  • Describe a book you would recommend someone to read. 
  • Describe an interesting book you have ever read. 
  • Describe a story from a book you have read. 
  • Describe a novel or book you really liked. 

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